Ken reached the Final Tribal Council, but didn't receive a single vote to win
(CBS)

Even with four immunity wins under his belt, a strong enough relationship that he was able to earn an idol in the form of the season’s mysterious Legacy Advantage, and a clear dedication to providing his fellow castaways with fish and other forms of nourishment, Ken McNickle walked away from the Final Tribal Council of Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X without earning a single vote.

Needless to say, it was a disappointing outcome for Ken, who competed on Survivor in order to provide a better life for his daughter. And while the Ken who graced the red carpet after the Survivor finale was able to crack jokes and wax poetic about his outlook on life, the man was visibly unhappy with the end result — especially with the notion that winner Adam Klein was responsible for convincing Ken to vote out his closest ally, David.

With that said, here’s Ken to clear the air on how he feels he played the game, why he believes there was more strategy to his actions than many people believe, how he arrived at the decision to vote out David, the biggest reason why he’s disappointed he didn’t win the money, and more.

Wigler: How are you, Ken? You’ve been better?

Ken: Nothing some whiskey and a good woman can’t fix, you know?

Wigler: It’s a tough Tribal Council for you, getting through it with no votes at the end. How tough was that night?

Ken: “****.” Is that a good way to describe how I felt? You probably can’t print that. Maybe you can put four asterisks in there.

Wigler: Consider it done.

Ken: But I have my family here. My brother’s here. My sister, two of my best friends, a good woman, and some whiskey waiting for me afterwards. So it’s one of those things you put into perspective. I may have just lost something big, but one of my favorite songs and one of my favorite lines: “I would rather be working for a paycheck than waiting to win the lottery.” And that’s it, man. I came from nothing. I’ve never really had anything, and anything I’ve ever had, I’ve earned. Yeah, it would have been great to walk away with this check. And honestly, the sad thing is, every dollar I have that doesn’t go to my daughter goes to helping the homeless. It goes to the volunteer work and the nonprofit I’m developing and have been working on for the last year and a half. I honestly feel bad because I’m thinking, how many more guys aren’t going to have shoes? How many guys aren’t going to have sleeping bags? I’m thinking of all the things I would have done with the money, and thinking about where it’s going to go now instead. That’s hard.

Wigler: I would love to hear your philosophy on Survivor and your approach to the game. It was often described in terms of honor and loyalty and staying true to who stays true to you…

Ken: But also busting your ass and fighting, you know? Paul, I had no problem sending him home. David at the beginning of the game was nervous, and I worked my ass off to make sure he felt secure and confident. Same thing with CeCe. Talking to Jess and getting her to come over to our side instead of theirs. I busted my ass for that. I worked a lot. They didn’t show as much of that as I would have liked. People are like: “Oh, he’s catching fish and he’s nice to people!” It was a great edit and the producers are absolutely amazing, and I feel honored to be on the show. But I wish some more of my strategic moves had been on there. I had people coming up after, members of our jury onstage, who said: “I had no idea you were behind Paul going home. I had no idea it was you and Dave working Lucy. I had no idea you were faking a shoulder injury.” I turned my shirt into a sling at one point and I was walking around moaning and groaning because I hear Taylor and Jay the day before talking about me and Chris as the two biggest physical threats, and how we need to go. So the next day when I come back home from the challenge, I have my arm in a makeshift sling, and I walked past them literally moaning: “Ugh, I’m going to go take a nap in the hammock.” No more than 15 minutes later, I hear Taylor saying: “Chris is a beast, but Ken? That dude’s all busted up. He’s not a problem.” And who beat Taylor on the night he went home? And who won three of the last five challenges? But, you know, I grew up in a small town in the middle of Kansas where you’re taught to be humble and you’re taught to be soft-spoken about things. You’re not taught to stand on top of a mountain and go: “Look at me! I want points on my resumé!”

Wigler: Did that drive you nuts? The resumé talk?

Ken: Absolutely! Absolutely. (Long pause and intense stare.) ABSOLUTELY. (Laughs.) Are you kidding me? Hell yes. And that’s the ego saying: “Everybody look at me! I want validation!” It’s not what I was doing. But I knew pre-merge I had to bust my ass to make sure I went over with an alliance and not be in the minority. I knew once I got over there I had to fly under the radar for a little while, because as someone at 6’2″ and 200 pounds, charismatic when I need to be, and an articulate guy, I knew I’d be a huge threat. The first day, the Millennials and Michelle were talking: “I have to get him out.” So what did I do? I flew under the radar for a little while and I was perceived differently. Now that they’ve watched the season and they’ve seen what was actually happening behind the scenes, they’ve talked to me: “Had I known, tonight would have been different.”

Wigler: You and David had such a compelling relationship…

Ken: Who, this guy? (Pointing at David, who is doing an interview right next to us.) I f—ing love him. I genuinely love the guy. I do life coach work and I do massage therapy. Yes, I do modeling, but I don’t consider myself a model. My wellness work is what drives me, and my nonprofit. I work with people all the time who feel inadequate and as though they’re lacking something. It creates a lack of self respect and appreciation for themselves. I see the beauty in people. I look at someone like him and I want him to see the same thing that I see. Seeing that, I wanted to build him up, not just for the sake of our game if he continues to move forward with me, but also just because he’s a good human being. I hope and I pray that Dave realizes who he really is. He’s not that shy and inadequate and nervous and twitchy kid. He’s a beast. He’s a healthy human being with a heart of gold who’s going to make some woman really, really happy, because all of the cavemen running around who can’t talk about their emotions? That might be cool when you’re in your 20s, but when you get into your 30s, women are like: “I’m tired of the idiots. Get me the nice guy.” David is the epitome of a nice guy.

Wigler: Talk me through the choice to get rid of David, then. It’s a huge decision.

Wigler: Okay, well tell me your side of it! How did it go down from your perspective? Was it a late call to vote out David, or had you known for some time that you would eventually have to vote him out?

Ken: I knew that. The thing I struggled with, especially the closer we got, was that I was going to have to do that. But it’s like life. In business, you can cut everybody’s throats and work your way to the top and have nothing but a bloody trail of bodies behind you, or you can bust your ass and be a good person and know that maybe every once in a while you’re going to have to make a difficult decision. It’s two different paths. I play the game the latter way. I knew at one point in time I would have to make a difficult decision and it would probably be against Jess or Dave. I knew that moment would come. But I knew I would be able to do it, because what matters most to me is my daughter. I love David, I love Jess, I love some of these people very genuinely, but nowhere near my daughter. I called my mom the day that I met my daughter and I said, “Mom, I’m sorry, but you’re number two now. You know how I told you no person would ever come above you in my heart? Not only are you number two, but you’re like a way down the road, barely see you in the mirror number two.” That’s why I was out there. So when the time came, I knew I wasn’t going to have a problem doing it. (Pauses.) Well, I mean, I wasn’t going to have a problem listening to Adam tell me to do it.

Wigler: You’re frustrated about that.

Ken: What do you think? (Shrugs.) But to have people come up afterwards, and to talk to people before the finale, and have them say they were able to watch the season and not just go by hearsay, they know that I did more than feeding them just so they could stay physically alive. Which, by the way, I thought would earn some merit. Apparently, it doesn’t.

Wigler: What does your daughter think of all of this?

Ken: She thinks it’s amazing. She thinks watching her dad run around like a wild man in the jungle was amazing. I took her to Hawaii in August. She had never been, obviously.

Wigler: I know it’s a place that means a lot to you.

Ken: Oh, man. It’s the place where I became the man that I am today. So to see that, and to take my wild little jungle girl to Hawaii and see her go in the water with me, and there’s a five foot eel baring its teeth at us, and she doesn’t get scared, she’s holding my hand, so she knows she’s safe, and she dives down seven feet with me and gets face-to-face with this eel, and she comes up and goes, “Dad, that was so awesome!” We go to the Big Island and we see a volcanic coral coming up, and she wants to poke it with a stick! Obviously I know the outdoors well enough to always keep her safe, but to see that fearlessness, and to see my little daughter step up as a warrior and watch her go up to a fire pit from the night before and grab a piece of coal, and I leave for five minutes and when I come back she’s drawn it all over her face and she’s holding this stick…

Wigler: It’s like she’s on Survivor!

Ken: I love it. That’s my daughter. This has inspired her to be the beautiful and amazing little girl that she is, but also to be a warrior as well. And she is beautiful, so I have to teach her to be a badass, because otherwise the boys will eat her alive. (Laughs.) I told her a couple of weeks ago: “Sweetie, there are a few things I have to tell you about boys.” And she goes, “What’s that?” And I said, “Just tell them that when you meet them, if they ever hurt you in any way, they are going to disappear.” And she goes, “What do you mean disappear, dad?” And I said, “You don’t need to know, and neither do they. Just tell them that they’re going to disappear. Show them a photo of your father, and they will understand, and it will be good.”

Wigler: Would you do this again?

Ken: Absolutely. I would go out tomorrow. But I wouldn’t be so nice. I have another side to me that my brothers and other people have seen when they push me to my limit. When I hit that switch, I’m not as nice. And that’s what I would have to do.

Josh Wigler is a writer, editor and podcaster who has been published by MTV News, New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources and more. He is the co-author ofThe Evolution of Strategy: 30 Seasons of Survivor, an audiobook chronicling the reality TV show’s transformation, and one of the hosts of Post Show Recaps, a podcast about film and television. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.